Putin moves to send troops to Ukraine

Gets parliament approval defying world pressure

Afp, Moscow

Russia's parliament yesterday gave President Vladimir Putin the go-ahead to send troops into Ukraine, despite a warning from Washington that such a deployment would results in "costs" for Moscow. The stark escalation of the ex-Soviet country's three-month political crisis came amid growing instability in Ukraine's predominantly Russian peninsula of Crimea that has housed Kremlin navies for nearly 250 years. Large swathes of the rugged Black Sea peninsula of nearly two million people are now under the control of pro-Kremlin militia who have hoisted the Russian flag over the region's government buildings and seized control of airports as well as television centres. Putin had asked that Russian forces be used "until the normalisation of the political situation in the country". He had remained silent since Ukraine's parliament ousted pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych on February 22 and then appointed a new pro-Western government that aims to move the ex-Soviet nation of 46 million closer to the European Union. But the Kremlin said in a statement that Putin had asked Russia's upper house of parliament to authorise the use of force in Ukraine until the political situation there "normalised". "In connection with the extraordinary situation in Ukraine and the threat to the lives of Russian citizens... I submit to the Federation Council a request to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory until the normalisation of the political situation in that country," the Kremlin quoted Putin as saying in the document. Putin said that Russia also had to protect servicemen from its Black Sea Fleet which is based on the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea "fully in line with an international accord". The Federation Council unanimously approved Putin's requested a lightning-fast debate. Upper chamber chair Valentina Matviyenko also ordered the Council's foreign affairs committee to ask Putin to recall the Russian ambassador from the United States. There was no immediate indication about the number of troops Putin intended to send. Ukraine's Defence Minister Igor Tenyukh had earlier told the new government's first cabinet session that Russia's armed forces had sent 30 armoured personnel carriers and 6,000 additional troops into Crimea in a bid to help local pro-Kremlin militia gain broader independence from the new pro-EU leaders in Kiev. Tenyukh accused Russia of starting to send in these reinforcements on Friday "without warning or Ukraine's permission." The ex-Soviet country's bloodiest crisis since its 1991 independence erupted in November when ousted president Viktor Yanukovych -- who has since fled to Russia -- rejected an historic deal that would have opened Ukraine's door to eventual EU membership in favour of tighter ties with old master Moscow. The move triggered mass anti-Yanukovych protests and a week of carnage in Kiev claimed nearly 100 lives last week. Putin's move came after an appeal for help from Crimea's newly-chosen premier Sergiy Aksyonov -- a ruler not recognised by Kiev and appointed by regional lawmakers after gunmen had seized the parliament building in the regional capital Simferopol on Thursday. In response, Ukraine's boxer turned politician Vitali Klitschko urged parliament to ask interim president Oleksandr Turchynov to declare a "national mobilisation after the start of Russian aggression against Ukraine." The UDAR (Punch) party leader also asked the UN Security Council to hold an urgent session to discuss the crisis. Earlier, US President Barack Obama had warned Putin on Friday that "there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine." "We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside of Ukraine," Obama said in a hurriedly scheduled statement at the White House. A senior US official separately told AFP that Obama and some key European leaders could skip June's G8 summit in Sochi if Moscow's forces became more directly involved in Ukraine. Putin's request for force authorisation came after a flurry of diplomatic efforts to resolve what threatens to become the most dire crisis to hit Moscow's relations with the West since the Cold War. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said ahead of his arrival in Kiev on Sunday that he had urged a "de-escalation in Crimea and respect for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine" in a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Germany and France also voiced concern about the developments in Crimea. And Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted: "Obvious that there is Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Likely immediate aim is to set up puppet pro-Russian semi state in Crimea".